The world has changed and architecture must change with it, that’s why we resolve issues, not briefs. We are a design-led practice guided by an ethical imperative: every element of the built environment must be viewed through the lens of a climate crisis.
Drawing on a long track record of built work, depth of experience and specialist expertise we seek to design architecture that makes a positive contribution to communities, cities and the environment.
Philosophy
Fraser & Partners was born of a desire to address the challenges presented by our environment with a process that is slower, deeper and fundamentally driven by discovery. We are interested not only in thinking about solutions to global problems, but doing something about them.
Regeneration comes by addressing our process, production and consumption, and investing in nature and ecology. This means going beyond minimising negative impact to making positive contributions. It means putting architecture back in the service of the city, and communities. It means design that gives new life to landscapes – revitalising local species of flora and fauna. Our legacy is built not just on big ideas, but meaningful action.
Methodology
We’re animated by the desire to reimagine and reconstruct environments worth inhabiting. We address the demands of our times by integrating wellness at all scales: materials, people, buildings, communities and cities. Drawing on the modernists who have always inspired us, we intervene at the point that nature and technology converge, harnessing both as tools to design architecture as a user interface.
Each project is driven by a bespoke platform, this forms a series of non-negotiables and ambitions defined in partnership with our clients to help realise the best triple bottom line outcomes. Navigating multiple sectors, the platform centres around 8 core pillars that guide us along the pathway to regenerative practice.
Capability
We aim to approach each project from the position of our client and the perspective of future inhabitants, creating architecture that responds to the unique constraints presented by each brief.
Our portfolio is testament to the success of this approach: we have over $4B AUD of constructed work and a further $3B AUD in planning or development. We work across diverse typologies – from multi-residential buildings and master plans, hospitality spaces and hotels, commercial offices, and interior architecture. Our design philosophy, people, experience and process allows us to create original design solutions that not only look good but work for all stakeholders of the built environment: the client, the community and the end users.
Fraser & Partners has the unique ability to adapt to changing project demands, expanding and contracting resources seamlessly in response to project requirements, through an established pool of experiences resources. Our core design team have the innate ability to undertake work across offices efficiently and effectively, adapting to varying degrees of output and meeting the short term increase in demand in an expedient manner.
Working through our internal procedures and processes, we are rewarded with a flexibility to transcend across each project and effectively manage our time to achieve our strategic objectives.
Hospitality and Hotels
We’re known for designing luxury resorts, distinctive hotels and sensory restaurants. We create experiential architecture and interior design, and our research and projects have given us applied knowledge of current trends in hospitality design and new tourism models. Our hospitality expertise has been recognised through industry awards for projects such QT Resort (Hotel & Accommodation Awards - Alpine Accommodation Winner); Huski (Victorian Architecture Awards - Regional Prize); and Vue de Monde (Australian Interior Design Awards - Hospitality Design).
We understand that today’s businesses’ operate in an experience economy. When designing hospitality environments we view the world through the visitor’s eyes, examining the crucial moments
of their experience to create sensory relationships beyond just the visual – how do your surroundings make you feel? Our hospitality spaces are memorable, both evocative and provocative.
The natural world is an important part in our projects, in fact, environments and gardens are frequently integrated into both private and shared areas in our buildings. Our track record in delivering hospitality and hotel projects that are both design-driven and marketdriven stems from our ability to create solutions that address not only the financial constraints of the hospitality market but also the desires of guests.
We consider our buildings total environments where ecology, technology, and people converge and landscapes and species are regenerated in concert with the built form. Architecture is a user experience and there are no borders between design, technology and community in our spaces.
Our projects have demonstrated potential to improve returns, work within strict floorplan and cost considerations. They provide truly inhabitable environments that excite and engage their owners and tenants.
Mondrian Gold Coast
Studio 54. That’s all you need on your CV as a hotelier. Ian Schrager took everything he learnt from catering to the world’s jet-set at his legendary 70s New York nightclub and distilled it into his iconic Mondrian hotel brand. Schrager pioneered the “boutique hotel,” creating a whole lot more than just somewhere to bed down for the night. His hotels offer transformative lifestyle experiences and ooze style and opulence. But they also manage to make you feel right at home.
So our brief was simple: to design a building that befits a legend, while capturing all the things that make this precious stretch of the Gold Coast so unique. We saw an opportunity to find a new way of thinking about Australian coastal architecture, in this instance, “bare-foot luxury.”
A place as special as Burleigh Heads cries out for an architectural response that forges an intimate connection between the transcendent natural surroundings and the built environment. The undulating profile of the two towers we’ve designed reflects the voluptuous lines of the sparkling sand dunes and imposing headland, while archways soaring above vast rooms and arcades at ground level echo the ancient caves that honeycomb the coastline.
So in the Mondrian Gold Coast, we’ve made the transitions between inside and outside seamless. To be standing within this space in dappled shade cast by architectural forms overhead, watching the waves crash on white sand below is to be immersed in this pristine environment.
50 The Esplanade, Burleigh Heads QLD
Project cost
$380M AUD
Area 65,000 SQM
Typology
Hotel keys
Resort, Multi Residential
200
Operator Mondrian
Completion 2024
Marina Mirage
Marina Mirage is set to be a world leading tourism and residential precinct that sets a new direction for regenerative design. Its living facades fuse architecture and landscape; a hybrid where buildings literally breathe.
This is a model community, deeply sustainable with zero carbon homes, hotel and restaurants set into the wondrous gardens of a littoral rainforest. Through a series of dramatic arrival experiences, Marina Mirage envelopes guests, residents and visitors alike. Arriving via Seaworld Drive reinforces the master planned vision for the Spit.
An extraordinary public realm expands out across the Broadwater. People not cars are prioritised in this urban context. The front door opens into a 3-storey internal rainforest while visually connecting guests to the marina beyond. Public spaces wrap the site as vaulted arches, forming a connecting navigation system that acts as intuitive and experience-driven wayfinding from front door to marina boardwalk.
Inspiration for the vaulted arches is derived from European waterfront cities; aqueduct architecture creating future-focused infrastructure. A series of graduated residences share the values of a progressive and dynamic new community where collectivism is celebrated. A new architecture evocative on the Byzantine era delivers material rich modernism while celebrating Australian design culture and craft.
74 Seaworld Drive, Main Beach, QLD
Project cost
$500M AUD
Area 54,000 sqm
Typology Resort, Mixed-use precinct
Hotel keys 110
Operator Confidential
Completion 2026
C6 Perth
At 189.1 metres, C6 will be the world’s tallest hybrid timber residential building. It will be constructed using 42% mass timber – the result of extensive research with timber and structural experts – along with green steel and ‘greencrete’. The mass timber utilised in the building’s structure can be sustainably regrown in less than 1 hour, sequestering 10.5M kg of carbon.
C6 will be carbon neutral at completion and continue to remove carbon from the atmosphere through considered material selection, planting and energy efficient technology. The building features an embedded network, powering the building with 100% renewable energy, while the innovative elastic transport strategy will provide bike share and an EV car-share fleet of 80 Teslas.
C6 sits in concert with the site’s pre-settlement history and its connection to the local Indigenous peoples and native landscape. Fostering social capital, a 500 sqm podium and forecourt will be shared by residents and the wider community alike as 20% of the site area is given back as publicly accessible space. The landscape reconnects people and aids in re-habitation of the endangered Black Cockatoo.
An educational experience centre, playground, public art, towerto-plate restaurant and urban farming will contribute to year-round amenity while invigorating the public realm.
6-8 Charles Street, Perth WA
Project cost
Area
Typology
$350M AUD
40,000 SQM
Multi Residential
Completion 2027
Oxley + Stirling
A building informed by its sought-after views, Oxley & Stirling sits on a picturesque bend between two reaches of the Brisbane River. Harnessing the unique outlooks across to the CBD and botanical gardens formed a building that would not work anywhere else. With the opportunity to create views for days, we could see that this exemplar of riverside architecture called for a touch of yesterday’s grandeur. Sometimes it’s best to return to the classics.
The form was shaped by those views, created to maximize every apartment angle to give all residents the best possible access to stunning panoramas. Each living room projects out past the next, fanning themselves out towards the view. From the moment you open the front door, you are presented with uninterrupted vistas, accentuated by bay windows and framed by fileted, curved glazing. In itself, the reflective, flowing façade mimics the sinuous turns of the adjacent watery behemoth, while the warm gold green colour pulls in the surrounding natural landscape. Twisted screens offer fine grain detail to the building’s surface while enhancing the columns that wind up the structure.
Shared spaces echo the glamour of days gone by, with a modern twist. Pulling up to the building you’re welcomed by the epic proportions of a porte cochere with large columns and dedicated drop-off zones. Inside, the lobby gleams with brass balustrades and rods. Up on the second floor is a library as well as a contemporary interpretation of a coffered ceiling.
A rooftop pool area gives you the best seats in the house for soaking up the 360° with a decadent combination of infinity pools and landscaped areas with all possible visible barriers removed. Exiting the lift, bluestone paving submerged in reflection pools guides you towards a viewing platform ; the level also includes a gym and outdoor yoga space. Cinemas and private dining mean you can have a great night out with only a lift ride home.
9 Christie St, South Brisbane QLD
Project cost
$60M AUD
Area 15,000 sqm
Typology Build-to-Rent
Completion 2019
Winn Street
Since time immemorial, the relationship between people, plants and animals has been one of dependence and content coexistence. However, since colonisation, humans have become increasingly isolated from plants and animals in their natural habitat, while flora and fauna have been pushed out of urban settings.
Winn Street’s design re-establishes the local ecosystem as a cohesive, holistic environment for plants, animals and insects. This enables people to live once again within the native landscape, co-existing in harmony.
Winn Street’s proposed twin towers are perched above a three-storey podium, creating a new destination for work, life and play in the heart of Brisbane’s vibrant Fortitude Valley. Filled with residential and public offerings, the towers incorporate nearly 400 light-filled build to rent apartments, a work club, leisure & wellness, retail and hospitality.
With frontages to Winn, Ann & McLachlan Streets, the ground plane crafts a welcoming and inviting experience. The site is pedestrianised through careful planning and an abundance of dining and shopping, challenging Winn Street’s existing prioritisation of cars and other traffic. Public art activates the ground level, with a unique precast concrete waffle grid on the exterior complementing the reclaimed timber grid and integrated planting inside.
The first level houses a work club and communal spaces designed to support flexible, post-pandemic working. A permeable podium top allows the city to breathe with its native gardens and pool terrace providing vital urban access to greenery and outdoor space.Private residential rooftop spaces feature a display of Australian native planting, pet friendly outdoor areas and fresh produce gardens.
The architectural form responds to its surrounding context through controlled passive design and integrated technology. The architecture combines a high tech / low maintenance approach to design and performance which minimises its environmental impact through reduced reliance on energy consumption.
725 Ann Street, Fortitude Valley QLD
Project cost
Area
Typology
$200M AUD
49,000 SQM
Build-to-Rent
Completion 2025
Kangaroo Point
36-48 Lambert Street pushes the boundaries of adaptive and responsive design, connecting residents with the natural environment. This residential building is based around the idea of Avatar’s ‘Hometree’ – a shared experience providing housing for Kangaroo Point’s unique intergenerational demographic mix: there is something for everyone here.
This inner-city suburb offers the best of the urban lifestyle, with the added bonus of close proximity to the city’s stunning natural features including the Brisbane River and Kangaroo Point cliffs, as well as parks, walkways and of course city and river views. The Hometree concept is translated into all aspects of the project. A large tower, with columns acting like roots, anchors the site.
Parametrically designed vertical screening on the building’s surface responds to sun protection requirements, adapting density to solar loading, while filtering light to create a canopy up above for the nestlike dwellings. The building has been designed to achieve a site average 6.4 star BERS rating – a next generation building, the advanced environmental performance of this building is perfectly adapted to the sub-tropical climate as well as seamlessly integrating with the surrounding built form.
A rooftop communal space offers panoramic views out to the city and along the river, with separate AM and PM spaces to control sun and shading for maximum comfort. A cabana dining area and kitchenette and spa with city views complete this. The ground plane is imagined as a cooling sanctuary filled with lush vegetation. A resortstyle infinity pool with grotto areas, a sauna and steamroom is a space for the diverse residents to congregate and socialise. Sitting above this public area is a mezzanine level, a place for respite where opportunities for socialising at a more intimate scale are found, such as a games and media room and private dining space.
A collection of townhouses fronts onto Lambert Street, the homes appearing as rock formations, guiding the flow of water cascading from the treetop canopy. Crevices lead to lobbies filled with natural elements and materials, creating moments for interactions between the diverse residents. Life at Lambert Street exists at a human scale, connecting people to each other and their surrounds.
36-48 Lambert St, Brisbane QLD
Project cost
$60M AUD
Area 17,000 sqm
Typology Build-to-Rent
Completion 2019
Seaworld Drive
Accentuating high-quality design and sensitive landscaping, Seaworld Drive takes a responsible approach to luxury accommodation. Situated alongside the Spit, large-scale hotels, retail destinations and the Marina, the nuances of the site required an ambitious design that would boost connectivity, cultural engagement and protect surrounding biodiversity.
Structurally, the architectural forms take a light-touch to the landscape, hovering on stilts. This design sees nature free of the buildings — leaving the ecosystems of the foreshore to thrive unimpeded below. Cross-laminated timber is used throughout, which extends the life of the timber, absorbing and storing carbon for longer, shielding the atmosphere.
The project transforms the harsh traffic-ridden streets of Seaworld Drive into a walkable public piazza that hosts world-class dining experiences inspired by local Indigenous seafood dishes. Pedestrian paths have been integrated to connect the piazza with Main Beach and the proposed Aboriginal Cultural Centre. The gateway to the Spit, Seaworld Drive is a beacon of respectful design.
The vision drives an enduring appreciation of natural rejuvenation and recognition of rightful land owners. Beyond simply a place to stay, this innovative take on luxury accommodation gives visitors an utterly immersive experience that sees them truly cherish place.
Seaworld Drive, Main Beach, QLD
Project cost
Area
Typology
Hotel keys
$400M AUD
40,000 sqm
Resort
200
Operator Confidential
Completion TBC
Situated in Fortitude Valley, we’ve made our mark on Brisbane’s creative hub with our three Peppers Hotel buildings that redefine luxury. We’ve separated the project into three curvilinear towers to create a varied, permeable form, sympathetic to the local heritage environment. Shrouded in bronze, mesh screens that create solar protection, the towers have a burnished glow that reflects – both literally and metaphorically – the long rays of afternoon sun that are a hallmark of the capital of the Sunshine state.
Each building has a different personality. The first tower is called Flatiron after the New York City skyscraper that shares its prow-like form, sits at the pointy edge of the project. This tower has a ‘cut out’ floor above the podium level, making the upper and bottom half of the building float. This floor is dedicated to guest facilities, like nothing you’ve ever seen before. A horizon infinity pool wraps the tower’s perimeter – complete with a swim up bar! There are also multiple lounges, kitchens, dining areas, a pool room, karaoke space, gym and loads of sheltered, outdoor space to soak up that sunshine. The openable mesh screens of Flatiron recall the sub-tropical vernacular of the wrap-around verandahs on the historic Queenslander houses.
Tower two – Valley House – is an oasis anchoring the middle of the site. Lush vegetation spills out of the building, the botanical walls forming a green ribbon that links all three towers, peeling down through the inhabited landscape of the podium level to the street.
Lucky number three, aptly called No. 1, brings the project back to the neighbourhood scale. The smallest in the triptych, its cloud-like form in palest grey glass mediates the contemporary backdrop to the important heritage buildings on the block, the Valley Fiveways and Foresters’ Hall. FV works with the unique character of its surrounding area, enhancing the existing structures, adding density and a new gateway for the community. With its billowing, oblong shape, No. 1 is more expressive than the extruded forms of the first two towers, and offers unparalleled services. Retail on the ground floor leads up to a lobby in white marble with a gold sunken bar and 24 hour concierge service. Guests of this tower receive exclusive access to business facilities, rooftop pool and gardens and private dining. Sometimes the best way to see something is to be on the outside looking in - from the vantage point of this rooftop you can truly see the burgeoning Brisbane CBD.
237 Barry Parade, Brisbane, QLD
Project cost
Area
$166M AUD
93,000 sqm
Operator Peppers
Hotel keys
Typology
170
Hotel, Multi Residential
Grote & Gouger
Grote & Gouger is a vibrant urban precinct celebrating lifestyle, wellness, culture and landscape. It’s also Adelaide’s most significant climate positive development, integrating the urban built environment with its natural surroundings.
Adelaide is unique in the world as the only city built inside a park. Extensive landscaping is incorporated throughout the precinct to improve quality of life for residents and visitors as well as create habitats that function as sanctuaries for birds and pollinators.
Five towers, between 15 and 28 storeys, will be completed by 2032. This will create 600 new homes (15% to be affordable housing) and over 3350 sqm of space for the local community.
The design draws inspiration from the rich heritage of Adelaide, specifically emphasising the principles of order, symmetry and the repetition of elemental and locally sourced materials. To achieve the highest levels of regenerative design, comfort and resilience are prioritised.
Efficient use of daylight, natural airflow, passive shading systems and indoor-outdoor living areas address human needs and the impacts of climate change. The commitment to carbon neutrality commences in construction, continuing into operations.
A pedestrian-focused street interface, laneway and central plaza create a dynamic experience, with programmed activities aligned with the hotel, work club, wellness offerings and public gardens.
237 Grote St, Adelaide SA
Project cost
Area
Typology
Hotel Keys
Operator
Completion
$300M AUD
76,000 sqm
Hotel, Multi Residential
200
TBC
2028
We’re creating a road-map to regenerative design. Each project is driven by a bespoke platform, with a series of non-negotiables and ambitions defined in partnership with our clients to realise the best triple bottom line outcomes.
Navigating multiple sectors, the platform centres around eight core pillars that guide us along the pathway to regenerative practice.
01 Climate positive
Our buildings make positive contribution through negative carbon, achieved through intervention at all stages. Each one must achieve carbon neutral status during construction. This is a non-negotiable action taken in partnership with our clients and collaborators.
Emphasising renewable, local materials and embedding considered landscape elements turns our buildings into carbon sinks: climate positive outcomes and lower ongoing operating costs.
We embed technology within our developments to monitor and improve energy consumption throughout their life-cycle. We also take an active role in negotiating long-term renewable energy supply agreements, expanding the capacity of local providers.
02 Performative architecture
How we design healthy environments has shifted dramatically since the onset of the pandemic. Twenty years of development has been compressed into two, forever changing the ways in which we work, live and play.
Our architectural approach explores a raft of passive design principles such as thermal performance and heat control, access to fresh air, high performance building envelopes, views and vistas, and lighting. These proven considerations are combined with the latest thinking around ventilation, technological integration, healthy materials and contactless mechanisms.
Salutogenesis
True well-being is not about cure, but prevention. Fraser & Partners creates salutogenetic environments that promote collective and individual physical and mental health. Salutogenetic environments offer people what they need in order to feel good, not just feel better. They foster creative expression, access to nature, social connection, movement and activity, and rest.
We understand these needs change depending on the demographics of users, and we actively consider how to make our buildings inter-generational and inclusive, remaining attentive to the diverse needs of different groups.
04
Regenerative landscapes
Regenerating landscapes requires an understanding of climate and context alongside the re-establishment of nature as central to the built environment. For each of our projects, we prioritise the planting of native endemic species to restore the local pre-European ecology of the site. We create total environments that in turn provide vibrant ecological habitats for wildlife and sanctuaries for birds and pollinators.
On-site water strategies mitigate downstream impacts and reduce land pollution. Rainwater harvesting, biodiversity management plans, indoor vegetation and community gardens are but some of the many opportunities to be explored on the pathway to regenerative practice.
05 Value chain
Each building is much more than the sum of its parts. We care about where things come from and how they’re made. Understanding the provenance of every material, every element that goes into our work, allows us to design from the macro to the micro scale, including direct to manufacture elements. This knowledge enables us to create designs that don’t just break-even but give back.
Drawing on the legacies of modernism, The New Standard is our demonstration of iterative design. During the design process, the Fraser & Partners team utilises benchmark data and a suite of custom details – each manufactured to rigorous requirements and adaptable to a range of projects and typologies.
06 Technology
At Fraser & Partners, architecture is user experience – we treat people, architecture and communications as integrated assemblage, rather than separate elements. Our projects have a strong technology backbone, which means that we can measure and analyse almost every aspect of a building’s performance from light, to air quality to heat mapping.
Multi-dimensional sensors create buildings that literally learn to perform better, adapting to the behavioural patterns of users to optimise consumption. Software interfaces for building systems add another layer of adaptability, giving managers the capacity to transparently access data and manually adjust settings.
07 Social and culture
Our architecture puts people at the centre, using design to facilitate connection and community. Respecting the land on which we operate, from time immemorial to more recent history, we learn from the stories of Australia’s First Nations peoples, which connect place, environment and cosmology.
We undertake partnerships and engagement processes with local community representatives and the Traditional Custodians of the land and waterways of Country. This is vital as we shape the flora and fauna of endemic landscapes and enable them to repropagate and thrive.
Industry leadership
Our collaborations actively seek to demonstrate industry leadership. Projects embody the principles of advocacy, future value creation, ethical decision-making and contributing meaningfully to the built environment sector.
The seed of each project is a specifically commissioned piece of research. Conducted by industry specialists and university researchers, this in-depth exploration of the vital challenges we face when designing total environments cements the collaborative focus of our process. Research findings are shared upon project completion for wide-reaching benefits.
Acknowledgment of Country
Fraser & Partners acknowledges Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We acknowledge that Countries, knowledges and customs were never ceded, and pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging.
